BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump met his Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday morning, kickstarting a high-stakes summit that’s anticipated to cowl commerce, tariffs, Taiwan and Iran, and runs by way of Friday.
The connection between the 2 international locations goes to be “higher than ever earlier than,” Trump informed Xi in his opening remarks, in response to official broadcast footage. Trump, who additionally visited China in 2017 in his first time period, mentioned the 2 leaders have identified one another personally for longer than some other U.S. or Chinese language president.
Talking simply forward of Trump, Xi famous the worldwide consideration on the assembly, and mentioned a serious query for the 2 international locations was whether or not they might keep away from the “Thucydides Lure,” in response to an official English translation of his Chinese language remarks broadcast by CCTV.
The Thucydides Lure refers to how tensions traditionally between a rising and ruling energy have usually resulted in a warfare. Graham Allison, the Harvard professor who popularized the idea, informed CNBC’s “Squawk Field Asia” that he expects the commerce truce Trump and Xi reached at their assembly in South Korea final fall will develop into a proper settlement.
“The large phrase shall be stabilization,” Allison mentioned Thursday.
The 2 presidents wrapped up their first assembly after about an hour, together with a welcome ceremony, and are set to have a number of discussions by way of noon Friday.
Trump is anticipated to go to the Temple of Heaven, a historic landmark, within the afternoon, and attend a state banquet within the night.
“China comes into this assembly way more assured than in 2017, when it feared even a small rise in U.S. tariffs. Within the final 12 months, Xi has been in a position to push again and neutralize a lot of Trump’s actions,” mentioned Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese language Enterprise and Economics on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research.
China was the primary main economic system to retaliate in opposition to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025.
“Though expectations are low and no grand discount is probably going, the welcoming ceremony and preliminary remarks on the opening session spotlight how really consequential this relationship is for the world,” Kennedy mentioned. “That is why everyone seems to be paying shut consideration and ready to search out out what they focus on and determine on problems with commerce and safety.”
Xi is anticipated to reciprocate Trump’s journey with a go to to the U.S. The 2 leaders might additionally meet alongside APEC and G20 occasions in China and the U.S. late within the 12 months.
Earlier on Thursday, Xi walked down the steps of the Nice Corridor of the Folks in Beijing to shake arms with Trump, in response to official broadcast footage. The U.S. president first shook arms with Chinese language officers, adopted by Xi greeting the U.S. delegation.
China’s high diplomat, Wang Yi and Zheng Shanjie, head of the financial planning company, had been among the many Chinese language representatives, the footage confirmed.
The U.S. contingent included Secretary of State Marco Rubio in addition to enterprise executives similar to Tesla‘s Elon Musk, Apple‘s Tim Cook dinner and Nvidia‘s Jensen Huang. Photographs of the preliminary Xi-Trump assembly additionally confirmed U.S. Secretary of Struggle Pete Hegseth and his Chinese language counterpart Dong Jun had been additionally current.
